Tough competition in Lipton Regatta
by Bernie Kaaks on 16 Nov 2014
Competition was tight in the Sydney 38 fleet - Lipton Cup Regatta Bernie Kaaks
The beauty of one design racing was best shown by the Sydney 38 results in the opening day of competition in RYCV’s Lipton Regatta. Bruce Taylor was a clear leader with the loss of seven points over three races, but Andrew Robinson paid a heavy price for his premature start in the first race. Playground returned to restart but was unable to recover and finished sixth. With a first and a fourth in the remaining races however, Playground may well have been sharing points at the top of the leader board.
With only five points between second and sixth, the stage is set for harder racing in today’s program.
Robert Date’s Scarlet Runner was the boat to beat in Division A, but on PHS handicap Rod Warren’s Joust led the way after scoring three consecutive seconds. On AMS he went one point better, with a win and two seconds, to lead the way from Bruce McCracken’s Ikon while on IRC Ikon heads the fleet with six points, ahead of Mike Welsh’s Wicked, with a score of eight.
Max Peters’ Adams 10 Top Gun led the Division B IRC fleet from Grant Botica’s Executive Decision. On AMS handicap though, Gary Mckinven’s Way2Go led Richard Gates’ Absolut. Under PHS, Soiree Bleu (Doug Lithgow) enjoyed a one point lead over The Bookmaker (Andrew Stagmolen) at the end of the first day.
Paul Larcher’s S80 Gravitas led two YW Diamonds on PHS handicap in Division C. Gravitas, Lucy in the Sky and Mystery were separated by a point each. Skipjack (Paul Feore) heads the IRC handicaps.
In the small boat Division D, Secret led by three points from Petit Voilier Beu in PHS, while Petit Voilier Bleu was first on CBH handicap ahead of Pipalini.
Under PHS handicap, John Raffj’s Kate was the best of the Cruising division E. Chris Tucker’s Halcyon was second, followed by the RYCV Commodore David Seaman in Duckmobile. Halcyon was also second on AMS handicap, behind Ryan Blackstock’s Le Cascadeur.
The Regatta finishes today.
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